Second Language And Cognition: Conceptual
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2Second Language and Cognition: Conceptual Categorization ofCount/Mass Nouns in English with Japanese UniversityStudentsYuko YamashitaKurume University, JapanDavid HirshUniversity of Sydney, AustraliaBio Data:Yuko Yamashita lectures at Kurume University and is also a doctoral studentat Kyushu University. She obtained an MEd in TESOL from the University ofSydney in 2008. She has taught English as a foreign language in Japan forseveral years. Her research interests include second language acquisition,vocabulary learning and teaching. The research reported here was done as partof her MEd TESOL studies.David Hirsh lectures in TESOL at the University of Sydney. His researchfocuses on vocabulary studies, language assessment and academicacculturation. Recent publications include Teaching Academic Writing(University of Michigan Press, 2009, with Paltridge et al.) and articles inReading in a Foreign Language and French Review of Applied Linguistics.AbstractThis paper reports on a study designed to explore the conceptual basis ofcount/mass noun distinction with Japanese students. It focuses on theperceptual cues used to match pictures with count or mass noun phrases, whenthere is the effect of distance, size, and clarity between pairs of pictures. Thestudy tests the cognitive individuation hypothesis in which count nouns areconceptualized as individuated things whereas mass nouns are conceptualizedas non-individuated things in the mind of speakers. Participants in this study363
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2were 103 students from a university in Japan. They completed picture tasksconsisting of 22 pairs of novel pictures with a phrase indicating a novel countor mass noun. The results indicate that participants relied primarily on theperceptual cue of distance and clarity to match pictures with count or massnoun phrases. They made the majority of choices consistent with the cognitiveindividuation hypothesis, when there were two effects (size and distance, ordistance and clarity). The study provides insights into effective ways toenhance Japanese speakers' application of conceptual knowledge when makingcount/mass noun distinction in English and potentially informs future studiesin second language and cognition and EFL pedagogy.Keywords: Count/Mass Noun Categorization, Japanese EFL Users,Aggregates, Cognitive Individuation Hypothesis, PerceptibilityIntroduction“Teacher, why can’t we categorize rice as a count noun in English? We cancount rice in Japanese.” This is a common question of Japanese students whoeat rice three times a day and are able to count rice within the Japanesegrammatical system. Common forms of noun categorization are thecount/mass noun distinction system used in English and Arabic and theclassifier system used in Chinese and Japanese. German and French encodeboth number and gender as part of the inherent properties of nouns. In theearly twentieth century, Sapir and Whorf proposed that human cognition, theway people see the world, is affected by language and culture (see Whorf,1956). In the last decade, the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis has been revived andthere is ongoing research investigating how language and culture influencecognition (e.g., Jarvis & Odlin, 2000; Levinson, 2003; Nisbett, 2003;Pavlenko, 2002). The current study focuses on the conceptual basis ofcount/mass noun distinctions with Japanese speakers and explores whether364
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2their conceptual categorization of count and mass nouns in English differsfrom that of native English speakers as indicated in previous research (e.g.,Bloom, 1994; Bloom & Kelemen, 1995; Wisniewski, Imai & Casey, 1996).1.1 Language and cognition: Count/mass noun distinction and the conceptof individuationThe relationship between language and cognition has been of great interest forsecond language acquisition researchers. According to Whorf (1956),language plays an important role in shaping cognition of concepts. In thisview, human concepts can be influenced by the acquisition of grammaticalcategories in different languages. In the last decade, the extent to which alearners’ L1 conceptual structure influences their second language hasreceived growing attention in the field of cognitive psychology. Studies haveexplored different perspectives such as the concept of space (e.g., Levinson,1996, 2003), the concept of time (Boroditsky, 2001; von Stutterheim, 2003),the concept of color (Roberson, Davies, & Davidoff, 2000) and the concept ofemotion (Pavlenko, 2002).The current study explores the relationship between language and cognition,focusing on count/mass noun distinction and the concept of individuation. Theconcept of individuation is illustrated in the process of people drawing amental boundary around an apple and viewing the apple as an individuatedobject, distinct from other apples. Through the process of individuation,people can count an apple with apple-sized units. Langacker (1987) suggeststhat people focus on the boundary of entities in order to construe count nounsand do not see the boundary of entities in the case of mass nouns.365
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2Psychologists have long discussed how people conceptually distinguishcount and mass nouns in their mind beyond grammatical categorization. In thedomain of psycholinguistics, a cognitive individuation hypothesis predicts thatcount nouns are conceptualized as distinct, countable, and individuated thingswhereas mass nouns are conceptualized as non-distinct, uncountable, and nonindividuated things in the minds of speakers (Bloom, 1990, 1996; Langacker,1987, 2008; Link, 1983, 1998; Wierzbicka, 1998). Previous studies evaluatedthe cognitive individuation hypothesis with native English speakers indifferent domains (Bloom, 1994; Bloom & Kelemen, 1995; Middleton et al.,2004; Wisniewski et al., 1996). Bloom (1994) found that native Englishchildren interpreted a count noun describing a series of sounds as individualsounds, whereas they interpreted a mass noun describing a series of sounds asnon-individuated sounds. In the domain of superordinates, Wisniewski et al.(1996) investigated native English speaking university students and found thatmass superordinates (e.g., furniture, clothing) refer to non-individuated groupsof objects whereas count superordinates (e.g., vehicles) refer to individuatedgroups of objects. Further, Middleton et al. (2004) explored the domain ofaggregates which refers to relatively small, homogeneous things which tend tooccur together (e.g., sugar, rice, beans) with English university students andfound that count aggregate such as sugar refers to individuated groups whereasmass aggregate refers to non-individuated groups. These studies support thecognitive individuation hypothesis in the context of native English speakers.1.2 Numerical classifier language and the concept of individuationThe numerical classifier system is one type of classifier system. In numerical366
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2classifier languages, classifiers for nouns occur as morphemes in order toindicate the quantity of the entity. Numerical classifier languages are found inthe region of South-East and East Asia, i.e. Thai, Japanese and Chinese. InJapanese, there are approximately 70 numerical classifiers which Japanesespeakers use widely in the daily life (Denny, 1979). When Japanese speakersthink it is important to quantify an entity, they attach a numerical classifier toa noun, as in the case of ‘ringo - 2 ko no ringo’ (apple - 2 portions of apple).The Japanese numerical classifier is attached to a noun based on mixedsemantic properties of the object, including biological taxonomy, size, shape,and function (Uchida & Imai, 1999).Studies examining patterns in two or more languages have explored whetherlanguage influences the construal of individuation. Studies generally supportthe view that humans possess innate knowledge of individuation. For example,Lucy (1992) compared individuation in non-linguistic tasks for speakers ofEnglish and speakers of Yucatec Maya who live a traditional life in theYucatec peninsula. The Yucatec Maya language possesses the numericalclassifier system and does not distinguish individual/non-individual entities.Lucy found that English speakers relied primarily on the perceptual cue ofshape to conceptualize individuation of objects, whereas Yucatec Mayaspeakers relied primarily on the perceptual cue of material composition inorder to construe individuation in non-linguistic tasks. Lucy reasoned thatEnglish speakers rely more on the perceptual cue of shape to conceptualizeindividuation of objects, whereas Yucatec speakers rely more on perceptualcue of material to categorize objects with the numerical classifier system.Thus, conceptual categorization shaped by English or the Yucatec language367
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2influenced the perceptual cues to signal individuation in non-linguistic tasks.Further, a series of studies by Japanese researcher Imai and her co-researchers(see Imai, 1999; Imai & Gentner, 1997; Imai & Mazuka, 2007) investigatedJapanese speakers who also use a numerical classifier system. Imai andMazuka (2007), for example, investigated how Japanese speakers and Englishspeakers classify entities as individual things and as non-individuated things.The results indicate that both English speakers and Japanese speakersdistinguish between individuated objects and non-individuated substance. Theresults further indicate that English speakers relied on the perceptual cues ofsolidity and boundedness to construe entities as individuated objects, evenwhen the visual perceptual cues were weak or ambiguous. Japanese speakers,on the other hand, did not rely on these perceptual cues to construe entities asindividual or non-individuated things. The researchers suggest that Japanesespeakers do not usually rely on the perceptual cues of solidity andboundedness to categorize objects within the numerical classifier system. Thisfinding suggests that conceptual categorization as shaped by the Japaneselanguage influences the perceptual cues used to categorize entities, inparticular when the visual perceptual cues are weak.Published studies with Japanese participants to date have focused on theperceptual cues of shape and materials in order to distinguish individuatedobjects and non-individuated substances. The current study investigates threeperceptual cues using picture tasks: the effect of size (large, middle, or small),of distance (close versus distant), and of clarity (clear versus blurred) in orderto build on the findings of previous studies. The study aims to investigatewhich of these three cues, size, distance and clarity, Japanese participants rely368
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2on in order to match pictures with a phrase indicating either a count noun or amass noun.1.3 The domain of aggregatesCount and mass nouns in English are distinguished through a variety ofdomains, such as objects/substance, mental events, sounds, and aggregates.The current study focuses on the domain of aggregates, the domain mostwidely investigated to date, which refers to relatively small, homogeneousthings which tend to occur together (e.g., rice, salt, beans, and popcorn).Count/mass noun distinction in the domain of aggregatesIn the domain of aggregates, Wierzbicka (1988) suggests that the key factorsto conceptually distinguish count and mass nouns are the perceptibility of eachelement and human interaction with each element in daily life. Table 1 showsthe description of count/mass aggregates based on perceptibility and humaninteraction.Table 1 Description of aggregates based on perceptibility and humaninteractionPerceptibilitySize: smallDistance: close toeach otherSize: relatively smallCountDistance:eachnounselement could beseparated from theotherWierzbicka, (1998, p.555-559)Mass nounsHuman interactionPeople do not usuallyinteract with separateelementsPeople sometimes interactwith separate bicka (1988) developed a hypothesis which predicts that perceptibilityleads speakers to conceptualize things as individuated things or nonindividuated things and, as a result, they match individuated things with count369
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2nouns whereas they match non-individuated things with mass nouns.Let us take an example of rice and beans. With regard to the size of eachelement, each single bean is bigger than a single grain of rice. In daily life,people normally eat rice when it is cooked and see each element stickstogether. People normally see each element of beans separately, whether it israw or cooked. Wierzbicka (1988) suggests that size and distance increaseperceptibility of each element of the aggregate. Each element of beans is moreperceptible and thus people construe it as an individual group, whereas eachelement of rice is less perceptible and thus people construe it as a nonindividual group. The current study builds on Wierzbicka (1988) to include theperceptual cues of distance and size in the pairs of aggregate pictures in theresearch design.Japanese numerical classifier system in the domain of aggregatesIn the domain of aggregates, several kinds of Japanese numerical classifiersare attached to nouns. Table 2 shows the categorization of aggregates based onthe Japanese numerical classifier system. Shape, function and size areconsidered to be the basic semantic properties to categorize aggregates withthe Japanese numerical classifier system. As shown in Table 2, tsubu is usedfor relatively small roundish objects (e.g., rice, grapes), whereas ko is used forlarge roundish objects (e.g., candies, stones) which are larger than the entitieswith classifier tsubu. Downing (1996) investigated the usage of 154 classifierforms with Japanese-speaking adults. Tanihara, Yen and Lee (1990) found thatthe prototypical features of ko are small and concrete with a definite shape(e.g., eggs, clams).Table 2 Categorization of aggregate based on Japanese numerical classifiers370
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2NumericalclassifierDescriptionExampleko (個)relatively small objectssolid objects(general classifier)small, inanimate, concrete or abstract(general classifier)small, round objectssmaller than the objects with classifier “ko”candies, stones,coins, dice,chocolate ballsstonesjoo (錠)medicinepillstama (玉)global massessmall, round objectspearls, noodles,saya (莢)beans in the podbeans, peastsu (つ)tsubu (粒)rice, grapes, gems,coffee beans(Downing, 1996)One area of investigation is the conceptual basis of count/mass noundistinction between individuated objects and non-individuated substances inboth studies of children’s conceptual development and cross-linguistic studies(e.g., Imai & Gentner, 1997; Lucy, 1992; Soja, Carey, & Spelke, 1991).Middleton et al.’s (2004) study explored the conceptual basis of count/massnoun distinctions in the domain of aggregates with native English speakersbeyond the prototypical distinction between objects and substances. Middletonet al. (2004) evaluated the cognitive individuation hypothesis with a series ofexperiments by testing Wierzbicka’s (1988) prediction in which perceptibilityand human interaction direct native English speakers to conceptualize thingsas individuals or non-individuated things and result in them matchingindividual things with count noun phrases, and matching non-individuatedthings with mass noun phrases. The test instrument for the current studyadopts Middleton et al.’s (2004) picture tasks consisting of novel aggregatepictures with a phrase indicating a novel count or mass noun. Use of picturetasks enables a direct examination of whether perceptual cues, such as size,distance, or clarity of each element, which are considered to predispose the371
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2conceptual basis of count/mass noun distinction, affect participant choice forcount or mass noun phrase (Wierzbicka, 1988). As Imai (1999) pointed out,perceptual cues are powerful indicators for categorization, as people cancategorize entities by just looking at them. Studies which explored differentconcepts, such as the concept of time (Boroditsky, 2000), spatialrepresentation (Munnich, Landau, & Dosher, 2001), and the representation ofemotion (Papagragou, Massey, & Gleitman, 2002), used picture tasks as theresearch instrument to show that speakers of different languages oftenperceive the same visual stimuli in a different way. By using picture tasks, thecurrent study evaluates the cognitive individuation hypothesis by testingWierzbicka’s (1988) hypothesis and examines the extent of consistency in theuse of perceptual cues (e.g., distance, size, and clarity). Thus, the researchquestions are as follows:1.What are the perceptual cues Japanese university students rely on tomatch pictures with mass noun phrases or count noun phrases, whenthere is the effect of distance, size, or clarity between pairs ofpictures?2.To what extent do Japanese university students make choices whichare consistent with Wierzbicka’s (1988) hypothesis in whichparticipants choose less perceptible elements to match with massnoun phrases, whereas they choose more perceptible elements tomatch with count noun phrases?2. Method372
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 22.1 ParticipantsParticipants were 103 Japanese university students from the Department ofEnglish Language, in a private university in Japan which has a good reputationfor language education and international exchange programs. The Englishlanguage entry requirement into the program of English is set at a higher levelthan for other areas of study. Participants were aged 19 - 25 years old.Japanese students usually start to learn English in junior high school and havethus been learning English for around six years before entering university.However, they generally have few opportunities to use English forcommunication outside the classroom as English is a foreign language inJapan. This situation would apply broadly to this participant group.Participants are considered to have similar educational backgrounds and theirEnglish proficiency is at upper-intermediate level. They were informed thatthe results of the task would not be shared with their teachers or affect theoverall assessment of their studies. They took part in this study outside of classtime, at the beginning of the semester.2.2 Design and materialsNovel pictures with a phrase indicating a novel count or mass nounPairs of pictures were adapted from Middleton et al.’s (2004) study andmodified for the current study. The pairs of novel aggregates show relativelysmall, homogeneous things close together. Each novel aggregate wascomposed of 40 elements (e.g., 40 grains of rice in an aggregate) and eachelement was a simple black and white shape. The existing instrument ofMiddleton et al.’s (2004) study had only two effects: distance and size. The373
Asian EFL Journal Volume 13 Issue 2middle size of elements and the effect of clarity (e.g., clear, blurred) wereadded into the instrument in the current study. As shown in Table 3, eachelement of the aggregates in the current study varied with regard to distance,size and clarity, in order to influence perceptibility of each element. Distancehas two stages of degree: distant and close; size has three stages of degree:large, middle, and small, and clarity has two stages of degree: clear andblurred.Table 3 Three variables in pairs of More perceptibleDistantLargeMiddleClearLess perceptibleCloseSmallBlurredFigure 1 shows the examples of pairs of pictures in which distance is variedbetween pairs of aggregates. For example, picture A shows an aggregate withlarge-close elements on the left and an aggregate with large-distant elementson the right.As shub.BThis is worgle.a. Close-Large versus Distant-LargeMiddleABThese are dacks.b. Close-Middle v
1.1 Language and cognition: Count/mass noun distinction and the concept of individuation The relationship between language and cognition has been of great interest for second language acquisition researchers. According to Whorf (195 6), language plays an important role i
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